Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you heard my Member's statement about non-medical escorts and the important role they cover for our residents. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services: does the Department of Health and Social Services have a policy in place that would compensate non-medical travel escorts for their time away from their place of employment? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, approved non-medical escorts are provided the same medical travel benefits as the patients who they are supporting and escorting. This is coverage for travel, meals, accommodations, and local ground transportation in accordance with the policies. Neither patients nor escorts are compensated for time away from work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the Minister for his answer. Since the department doesn't have a policy in place, do they have something in place to provide some sort of incidental funding for the person so that they can get shampoo and stuff like that that they forget back at home?
When patients stay in the boarding home, they are provided with meals and there are light foods available throughout the day, things like sandwiches, fruit juices, and cookies, so that if they miss a meal, those are there. If they are in transit for a day, they can claim the $18 a day to offset the cost of incidentals. When patients stay in private or commercial accommodations, they receive meal per diems in accordance with the policies.
I appreciate the Minister for giving us that update and that information. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister please advise this House what happens if a non-medical escort cannot eat the food available at the boarding home? Does the government at least reimburse that person for their costs?
The costs of the boarding home includes accommodations, meals, light snacks, as well as ground transportation for patients, as I have already indicated. The cost of the boarding homes is in the range of about $200 a day. The boarding homes provide a variety of meals throughout the day, and they try to have traditional food on the menu when it is made available to them.
When given notice, Mr. Speaker, when somebody lets them know, the boarding home can also accommodate specific medically required diets, things to help individuals who are diabetic or cardiac patients who have a low-salt requirement. However, they are providing food for a large number of guests, and personal preference cannot always be accommodated, but if the person has some dietary issues, if they let them know, it can often be accommodated.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for that answer. With the challenges that we are facing in trying to get people to be non-medical escorts here, will the Minister look at developing a policy or, even better, come up with a way to compensate future non-medical travel escorts so that they can continue to provide this valuable service to patients obligated to travel to meet their medical needs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We do have a number of revisions to the medical travel policy currently under development. I hope to share those proposed revisions with the standing committee in the next couple of weeks, if not next month for sure.
I can tell you that increasing financial supports for non-medical escorts is not one of the proposed changes, so compensating them for time away from work is not one of the changes that we are proposing. As part of our work, Mr. Speaker, we have reviewed medical travel programs from across the country as well as other jurisdictions. Except for Nunavut, the benefits that we are providing here are far greater than most other jurisdictions. We are basically on par with Nunavut. Our system needs to rely on friends and family supporting patients who are required to travel. Further, Mr. Speaker, our system is designed to help offset the costs, not cover the costs or cover all costs. If patients aren't able to find an escort to support them in their medical travel journey, the authority will work with patients to help develop solutions.
I should also note, Mr. Speaker, that in 2016-2017 we had over 5,500 medical travel cases where an escort was involved. Increasing benefits or compensating escorts for their time away from work would have a significant impact on system costs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
